DID YOU KNOW......


"Mental health problems of deaf Dutch children as indicated by parents'
responses to the child behavior checklist"



Emotional/behavioral problems of 238 deaf Dutch children ages 4-18 years
were studied. Parental reports indicated that 41% had
emotional/behavioral problems, a rate nearly 2.6 times higher than the
16% reported by parents of a Dutch normative sample.

Mental health problems seemed most prevalent in families with poor
parent-child communication.

Deaf children ages 12-18 showed more problems with anxiety and
depression and more social problems than those ages 4-11.

Deaf children with relatively low intelligence showed more social
problems, thought problems, and attention problems than those with
relatively high intelligence.

The authors of the article stress the need to get information on deaf
children's mental health functioning not just from parents but from
other informants such as teachers and the children themselves. An
expansion assessment of deaf children, and of special services and
treatments for deaf children and adolescents with emotional/behavioral
problems, is recommended.

(van Eldik T, Treffers PD, Veerman JW, Verhulst FC., 2004)